New Software: Poker Sharpener - Now Approved

[Poker Sharpener]

We are very pleased to announce that Poker Sharpener has been officially approved for use by Poker Stars, including the more restrictive policies they implemented September 1, 2007. Poker Sharpener conforms to the rules set out by the poker sites and therefore is not on any poker site's prohibited list.

Thank you to all of you who have been patiently waiting to try Poker Sharpener until we completed this process. We have started this new thread to re-introduce the features available as some of them have changed during the approval process:



Poker Sharpener Web Site

You are invited to download and evaluate Poker Sharpener free of charge. Once your evaluation is over you can choose to purchase a license or get a free license via one of our sign up offers.

Poker Sharpener helps you win more money by providing real time statistics, and giving you the tools to analyze your game and become a better poker player.

Live Game Play Features
<ul type="square">[*]View real time opponent muck cards, profiles, and statistics right on the poker screen with the built in Heads Up Display (HUD)[*]Click on the poker table to pop up details of how any opponent is playing[*]Formulate the best game play decisions based on context relevant statistics and use the odds calculator to properly evaluate your outs[*]Use the preflop starting hand selection features to decide which hands to play and how[*]See your opponents recent starting hands and how they played them[*]Identify table and player trends with configurable live charts[*]Automatically monitor and record multiple poker tables at multiple sites simultaneously[/list]
Click for more live play features

Post Game Analysis and Configuration
<ul type="square">[*]Evaluate your financial performance over time[*]Perform in depth analysis of your game play and that of your opponents to adjust for deficiencies and repeat successes[*]Monitor your tournament performance[*]Tweak position, tightness, aggression, and other thresholds[*]Define or adjust your starting hand groups for use during live play and game play reporting[*]See combined results from multiple poker sites by creating a player alias[/list]
Click to view more post game features

[Poker Sharpener]

Official approval from Full Tilt Poker:

[ QUOTE ]
Please accept my apologies for the lengthy delay in responding.

After reviewing your product, we have determined that it is acceptable for use on Full Tilt Poker. We wish you the best of luck in your venture.

Sincerely,

Mike M
Operations Manager
Full Tilt Poker Support


[/ QUOTE ]

[jack frost]

I am not trying to be a jerk but exactly what is so special about this program that pokeroffice,pokertracker and more impotantly Holdem manager doesn't have? This seems like just another stat tracker/hud that does nothing more than what is already on the market?

[Poker Sharpener]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not trying to be a jerk but exactly what is so special about this program that pokeroffice,pokertracker and more impotantly Holdem manager doesn't have? This seems like just another stat tracker/hud that does nothing more than what is already on the market?

[/ QUOTE ]

All three of the products you mentioned offer different takes on the stat tracker/HUD functionality. As it is today one requires add-ons and manual configuration, and one other is in the works but is not yet on the market. You are correct that we too offer this functionality with our own unique spin on things. The following outlines functionality you may not be aware of that Poker Sharpener offers. Some of the features I will talk about are not available in any of the mentioned products while others are only implemented in a subset of them:

<ul type="square"> [*]Our HUD is very easy to use as it adapts itself to whatever table you are playing at. There is no need to manually place anything as Poker Sharpener knows how many seats are at your table, whether or not you have rotated the table, and where there is space for statistics without interfering with table functionality or cosmetics. It is an integrated solution that blends in with the table and adjusts itself to accommodate if you change the size of your poker window. It even adapts itself to all of the different themes/table views provided by Poker Stars and Full Tilt.
[*]Although we may add player icons for other purposes we have elected to represent opponent tightness and aggression in a different way. We took the approach of using four color bars in the HUD. One for each of the following (Preflop: Tightness, Aggression | Post Flop: Tightness, Aggression) All the colors and associated ranges are completely configurable and you are able to setup five categories for each. Once you memorize 5 color meanings and 4 color bar positions you know an awful lot about the player, while the same amount of information in an icon would require the memorization of 625 of them. These same colors and ranges are also used in the post game reports and charts.
[*]You can decide if you want the HUD to show statistics for a given number of hands from the current sitting or if you would like to include the last x number of days. You can also choose a threshold by which the statistics will automatically switch from a "number of days" to a "number of hands" as you accumulate more hands for a given player. This allows you to see how an opponent has played recently or how they have played over a long period of time.
[*]More statistics are available via a popup by clicking on a given player including that player's actions so far this hand. Clicking on the table will provide a legend describing the statistics on the HUD and the meanings of the color bars representing the tightness and aggression categories described above.
[*]Our reporting offers you configurable categories that you can group on. You can use the predefined grouping combinations or define your own and save them for quick access later. If you want to see how you do in each position at tables of different aggression or tightness ranges it is easy. Combine any of the available groups in whatever order you wish to evaluate yours or an opponent’s game from that perspective. Choose which statistics you want to display, drill into them etc.
[*]Only one of the products mentioned above offers any information that is about the current hand you are in. Poker Sharpener has a truly live aspect that will provide things like the pot odds being offered, the outs available, and even the pot odds price to draw to a particular hand or better. It tracks and displays your current position, M value, and other information that updates as each action is taken at the table. Preflop functionality is provided that ranks your starting cards, provides a win percentage based on the number of players dealt cards, and allows you to set position based tightness targets that can help you play more disciplined. You can setup Hand groups for reporting or to see what group your pocket cards belong to as they are dealt. As each action is taken you can see in the HUD and on the hand monitor on average how tight or aggressive the players STILL IN THE HAND are excluding yourself so your decisions are not skewed by your own playing style or those who are no longer relevant at the time.
[*]The hand monitor provides alot of other functionality associated with the current table like the known starting hands for each player, Live charts that show player/table statistical trends of your choice, Player comparisons, and the ability to arrange and dock information in a way that best uses the space available.[/list]The preceding features are by no means exhaustive but are rather intended to let you know some of the features provided that specifically address your question. Please feel free to try out Poker Sharpener and let us know what you think. Some sample Poker Windows with HUD and Popups follow:

[4_2_it]

Does your product allow a user to import hand histories currently stored in Pokertracker?

[Yikes]

I actually purchased poker sharpener at the end of September, and didn't like the fact that there was a separate hud for each table, seems like it would get kind of cluttery with multiple tables. I went back to poker tracker the next day, deleted poker sharpener from my system.

To me poker sharpener wasn't too user friendly. Not saying it's not a good product, but I need something that was simple for me to use.

[Poker Sharpener]

[ QUOTE ]
Does your product allow a user to import hand histories currently stored in Pokertracker?

[/ QUOTE ]

Currently we do not have this functionality, but it is something we are looking at very closely. You can import hand history files now, but we are still finalizing what other types of importing will be available.

[ QUOTE ]
didn't like the fact that there was a separate hud for each table, seems like it would get kind of cluttery with multiple tables.

[/ QUOTE ]

I assume that this refers to the Hand Monitors. We have improved how this works since September to better accomodate multiple table configurations. You can either have the hand monitor pin to the Poker Window or you may elect to leave it unattached. In either case when your poker table gets focus the hand monitor that is for that table will be shown. People who multitable and only want to take up the space required for one hand monitor can now do so and they will automatically see the most relevant one.

[ QUOTE ]
Let me import, say 20,000 hands instead of 350 and maybe I will give it a try. You have a lot to prove here for any market share, and a 350 hand trial will not get you there.

[/ QUOTE ]

We need to place some reasonable limits on the number of hands that are allowed during the trial period. I beleive that 20,000 is 20 times that allowed by Poker Tracker. While we may decide to increase the number of hands allowed during evaluation I doubt we will increase it that much if we do. In any event, we will think on this some more and post here if we change the number of hands that can be imported.

[1p0kerboy]

Maximum 10 tables.

This product is soooo 2005.

[River_Mitt]

I'm trying to understand your marketing spin.

You allow 1/3 as many hands as PT in your demo and then charge $210 for 3 years use compared to PT current rate of $50. You know your marketing to poker players and understand pot odds, right?

I tried PT and when I imported my hands, unfortunately most of it was tourneys and PT sucks at tourneys so .... no sale.

As soon as I see a demo that says it will work for 2 days or such or that the only way to get the software is to sign up at some poker site I pass. I know how much time and effort it takes to review a product and I don't have time to waste.

From my stand point, if you want me to pay you $5 or so a month to use your product I expect a chance to try it for a month (especially since you don't allow for refunds based on the fact that you can try before you buy).

If you think that 350 hands displays your product potential then I know it's not worth installing on my test machine..

Thanks anyway and good luck. nh

[hra146]

You have obviously put more time and effort in the software than in thinking about marketing strategies.

My personal prediction is that youre gonna fail miserably if you ignore what people have said so far. Its spot on and true if you ask me.